Essay: The Rights and Crimes of AI

By Alexander Rinaldi

​The world has changed vastly over the past few decades. We have seen the rise of the computer and the smartphone, the proliferation of streaming services and algorithms that determine what we like and what we should see, and the entrance of what can only be seen as a Digital Age.

But, while these technologies can help bring us to new levels of human achievement, they bring with them a series of never before seen moral questions. In our ultra-connected lifestyle, we worry constantly about being watched through our screens, microphones, and home assistants, to the point where saying “Hey FBI guy” to your camera is a casual joke. We are barraged with posts and memes from social media and are left wondering if these apps are a force for good that encourage communication and connection, or a malignant source of self-esteem issues and mental health problems. And perhaps most worryingly, humans may not be the sole sapient species on Earth anymore, and it's our own creations that may rise up with us.

Artificial Intelligence, or AI as it is commonly known, has advanced leaps and bounds over the past years. Creations such as AlphaStar and AlphaZero master our complex video games and board games respectively, while others such as Sophia maintain basic conversation. The more advanced they become, the more we must ask ourselves: At what point do these beings deserve human (or not so human) rights? And, a lesser known but still important question: At what point should AI be held responsible for the war crimes it is used to commit? Frequently AI is used in a military capacity, and oftentimes by governments that don’t necessarily care for the rules of the Geneva Convention.

If the rise of AI continues and they eventually achieve a level of sapience, can we still only blame their creators for the actions they commit? Or will it reach the point where the AI is just as guilty for guiding the bomb as the soldier is for pushing the button?